Elon Musk, entering the future with less cojones.
Elon Musk, entering the future with less cojones. Phil Stafford/shutterstock.com

Yesterday, we learned that Bill Gates (a man who holds an obscene amount of wealth—$91 billion) gave up the moral ghost by pandering to a man who obtained power by lying and deliberately exciting the racist passions of rural voters. Today we learn that another billionaire, and the most prominent CEO futurist since Steve Jobs, Elon Musk "has joined Donald Trump’s advisory council."

Why is this so bad? For one he "dismissed Mr Trump as 'not the right man for the job.''' And more importantly, Musk, a man who is supposed to be leading the world out of its suicidal dependence on fossil fuels, has joined forces with a leader who doesn't believe in anthropogenic climate change and is conducting a witch-hunt in the Department of Energy for climate scientists. (So far it's unsuccessful—but give it a little time.)

Sydney Brownstone is right to ring this particular alarm: "German industrialists found themselves in a similarly uncomfortable position in January of 1932. Many industrialists saw the Nazi party 'as a socialist and anti-capitalist party.' Nevertheless, they deluded themselves into complacency when Hitler met with them..." So much for the progressive wing of the billionaire class. Those big balls you are supposed get with billions turn out to be, to use the words of the Ol' Dirty Bastard, "as fragile as eggs."